The French culture minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabre has said he expects the P2P debate to return to the French parliament in early March. As previously reported, the French government have been revisiting their proposals for new legislation to govern the distribution of content online after opposition MPs amended a bill presented to parliament just before Christmas so that it would legitimise P2P usage in return for a standard royalty levy, probably on internet service provider subscriptions.
Speaking to Paris based Radio J over the weekend, the minister said: "My goal is to give birth to a new legal online offer of music and movies allowing artists to be remunerated and providing users with the best access flexibility, with models based on subscription, a la carte, package deals, etc." The specifics of that ambition, and what role government will have in achieving it, are not clear, though Donnedieu de Vabre ruled out the flat-fee levy system advocated by some opposition MPs, but rejected by much of the music industry, including French based major Vivendi Universal.
Donnedieu de Vabre also confirmed plans to launch later this month a website where public discussion on the topic can take place. He said that forty artists had also agreed to participate in the online debate on internet copyright, which will launch on 22 Feb.